the exercise of
personal taste and discrimination in securing an article not only of
greater artistic merit, but of greater durability.

THE LOOM AND ITS WORK

The hand loom is Oriental, the power loom Occidental. The former adds
much to the fame of the Orient. The exquisite fabrics it produces have
made it world-renowned, and although it is simple in structure, its
products show careful and finished labor. Hand looms in all Oriental
countries are similar, and are to-day almost as imperfectly developed as
when used by the ancient Egyptians. To weave their mats, the ancient
Egyptians took the coarse fibre of the papyrus and, with the help of
pegs, stretched it between two poles which were fastened in the ground.
Two bars were placed in between these poles, the threads of the warp
serving to keep them apart. The woof thread was passed through and
pressed down tightly a number of times with a bent piece of wood.

The loom now generally used in the Orient is made by fastening two poles
perpendicularly in the ground to a sufficient depth, leaving above
ground as much of each pole as equals in length the desired rug. This
framework supports two horizontal rollers, the warp threads being wound
around the upper, while the ends are fastened to the lower; at this the
weaving is begun, and on it the rug is rolled while in process of
construction. To the warp threads of fine linen or cotton the weavers
tie the tufts of worsted that form the pile. This worsted, which has
been dyed previously, hangs over their heads in balls. When a row of
knots is finished, it is pressed down to the underlying woof by a long
and heavy comb with metal teeth. Then the tufts are clipped close with
shears, to make the pile. In the finer rugs there are seldom more than
two, or at the most three, threads between every two rows of knots, but
in the coarser kinds there are more threads. In many districts every
family possesses a loom, and it is generally small enough to be carried
from place to place.

Sir George C. Birdwood has seen the web in the horizontal loom in
Western India kept stretched by being wrapped, as worked, round the body
of the weaver. In some instances the spinners make thread from the
cotton wool by using the left hand as a distaff, and the right one as a
spindle. In other cotton rugs which he has seen, the warp threads were
placed horizontally, and the loom was without treadles and reed. The
woof threads were thrown across by the